Tapering For A Race: Which workouts do you recommend?

Training
1

TR (LV) has two workouts scheduled for my final week before an A race.

Bernard -5: 30 min Vo2 (Mon)
Dans: 30 min at 50% FTP. (Wed)
Doing openers on course (Fri)
Race Sat.

I was under the assumption that tapering should be the same intensity at approx 50% volume. However my LV plan has gone from 3.5 hrs down to 1 hour with only one sesh with reduced intensity. Typically I ride 10-14 hours a week. 3 TR sessions and 2-3 outdoor Z2 sessions at 3-5 hrs in length. I thought I would drop the long Z2 rides and do 2 x 30-45 min intensity sessions. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks,

2

The suggested taper leading into this year’s edition of Bemer Cyclassics fondo looked like this:

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Then two full rest days until the race. I had surprisingly fresh legs and felt great. I’ve been on a mid volume plan since early spring.

3

Awesome thanks. Was that an a race?

4

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This was my calendar before A race. I felt very strong here. I know you’re doing openers at the race… but I love that workout Truuli at any time.

Edit: I’m not a coach, but, I am finding out for myself that I must have some intensity during the week before a race or I feel flat. When I keep the intensity but cut volume by 50%, I feel awesome.

1 Like
5

https://www.cyclassics-hamburg.de/en/

I did the 100 km one. Not a race per se but try to convince people of that…

6

Sorry I meant (for the purposes of TR’s calendar) was that a taper before an “A” event.

And you know what they say; put two people on a bike and you have a race!

7

Perfect. Thank you!

1 Like
8

It depends how much you care about that race. There’s a big difference between a taper for a championship race and a tape to just race.

I would do something like this if I’m training through the race (I ride ~9hpw and lift one a week, tho I skip the lift on a race week).

M off
T 1.75hr aerobic
W 30min run / 1hr intensity (with reduced reps)
R 1.25hr aerobic
F 0.75-1hr easy with openers
S race
S 2-3hr aerobic

9

For sure!

Sorry about the confusion, yes, this was my main event this year and the only event that I planned for. I did do a local event about 4 weeks ahead of this, but that was because the weather was nice that day… I’m just a nutjob dedicated to training so I don’t need a lot of races to get motivated!

10

if you’re riding over the weekend, I’d:

Mon - Rest
Tues - the vo2 workout
Wed - endurance 2h
Thurs - off
Fri - openers
Sat - WIN!

1 Like
11

lol. I like Saturday.

12

My n=1, I’ve found the likes of west vidette +1 and pettit +1 work best for me as an “opener” the day before a race. Trulli and Cajon just a bit too hard, but the couple of sprint efforts are enough. I feel I need something, but just tick over. Often it’s just an easy spin.

13

And what about the seven days leading up to the race?